{"id":3102,"date":"2014-05-26T17:40:29","date_gmt":"2014-05-26T17:40:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/?p=3102"},"modified":"2014-05-26T17:40:29","modified_gmt":"2014-05-26T17:40:29","slug":"the-power-to-touch-the-moon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/the-power-to-touch-the-moon\/","title":{"rendered":"The Power to Touch the Moon"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"touch<\/a><\/h5>\n
August 21,2011<\/h5>\n

Matthew 16: 13-20<\/h3>\n

There\u2019s a story that is popular in the Dominican Republic about a king who wanted to touch the moon. Now, the story never tells us why he wanted to touch the moon, it simply has the king state, \u201cI want to touch the moon. I am the king and I get what I want.\u201d So the king called the royal carpenter and said, \u201cBuild me a tower that is high enough to touch the moon.\u201d The carpenter said, \u201cYour majesty, this can\u2019t be done.\u201d \u201cIt will be done,\u201d said the king, \u201cor I\u2019ll find myself another royal carpenter.\u201d So, the carpenter came up with an idea, \u201cIf we could collect enough wooden boxes, they could be stacked on top of one another and perhaps make a tower that was high enough to touch the moon.\u201d \u201cLet it be done,\u201d said the king, and he sent out his soldiers to collect all the wooden boxes in the kingdom\u2014boxes that were used to store books, boxes which were used for food or clothing, even boxes in which people had been buried. All were collected and built into a high tower. It was high indeed. But of course, it was not high enough to touch the moon.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need more boxes,\u201d said the king. \u201cCut down all the trees in my kingdom and use the lumber to make more boxes to add to the tower.\u201d And it was done. Now the tower was immensely high, and the king began to climb it. He climbed up higher than the birds, higher than the clouds to the very top of the tower. But, he could not touch the moon.\u00a0\u201cWe need more boxes,\u201d cried the king to the carpenter below. \u201cThere are no more boxes,\u201d said the carpenter, \u201cyou\u2019ll have to come down.\u201d \u201cNever!\u201d said the king, \u201cI am the king and I want to touch the moon. If there are no more boxes, then I command you to start bringing up the boxes that are at the bottom of this tower.\u201d It was done. And, of course, everything then collapsed in utter ruin.<\/p>\n

Now, the story is an absurd one, but it resonates with the sad experience of many people throughout the world, people whose countries are ruled by a dictators or despots who are only concerned about their own power. Look at Libya, or Syria or Bahrain or many other countries where political leaders are willing to expend the country\u2019s resources and do violence against their own people in order to stay in power. They want to touch the moon, and they are willing to go higher and higher regardless of the cost.<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s gospel, Jesus presents to us another vision of power, another kind of authority. He gives Peter authority in the church. But, Peter\u2019s authority is not to be the highest of all, but rather the lowest of all. Peter\u2019s role is to be the rock\u2014the rock on which the church will be built. So, instead of climbing higher and higher over the resources and the lives of others, Peter\u2019s role is to be the solid foundation upon which the lives of others can be built. In Jesus\u2019 vision, true authority is not the authority of importance. It is the ability to ground and enhance the lives of others.<\/p>\n

This teaching of Jesus should lead us to thankfulness and commitment. Let us begin with thankfulness. Who are the people in your life who gave you the foundation to be who you are? Who are the people who thought not of their own importance and status but rather gave themselves for your benefit. Who are the people who showed you what wisdom is, what responsibility is, what integrity is, what love is. Are they parents?\u00a0 Grandparents?\u00a0 Friends? Teachers? Mentors? None of us can stand without a foundation provided by someone else. This truth should always make us thankful. If these people in your life are still alive, why not take some time this week to thank them for what they have done for you. If they are already with the Lord, then say a prayer that the Lord might hold them close. Our first step is thankfulness.<\/p>\n

But, that leads to commitment. For, if others have given a foundation to our lives, we must be people who are committed to provide a foundation for others. As parents, as friends, as spouses, as teachers, we should see that true authority is not seeing how high we can get, but rather the willingness to lay down our lives as a foundation of generosity, responsibility, and care for others, so that their lives can grow.<\/p>\n

True authority is not the power to touch the moon. It is the sacrifice and love of laying down one\u2019s life for the sake of another. Even as we are thankful for those who have given this gift to us, let us also commit ourselves to live our lives in such a way that others will see in our witness, a foundation on which their lives can stand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Jesus\u2019 vision, true authority is not the authority of importance. It is the ability to ground and enhance the lives of others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5879,"featured_media":3105,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homilies","infinite-scroll-item","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33","resize-featured-image"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/files\/2014\/08\/touch-moon.jpg","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5879"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3102\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}